South Island
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The Shadow
A classic gets a second life. That slow sway, rocked like a baby in a cradle. Sloshing from side to side in the wind, you’d bump shoulders with a stranger, a friend, or the one you hoped to sway into the night with. You’d huddle for warmth; you’d share a nip, a drag, a puff…
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The Iceman calleth
If exploding beer is your problem, yo, he’ll solve it. Here is a sentence I never thought I’d write. I answer my phone and there is a man on the line; that man is Vanilla Ice. This is especially striking as I am receiving the call in my house, which is located in a small…
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Simple rules
On coming back to a small town. The path curves around the contours of the lake, following the ebbing water for as long as you want to walk it. A concrete trail, upgraded from gravel and dirt a long time ago, now the groundwork for a sense of stability. I sit and stare at the…
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If it works, change it
For nearly a decade, LUMA lit up Queenstown for the love of it. It’s always about the weather, rain and wind being unwanted, no matter what the event. And in the week leading up to LUMA 2024, it’s uncannily warm. Nor’west, the forecast is mixed. But the transformation of the Queenstown Gardens continues regardless. From…
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Getting across the river
How Anthea Fisher learned to stay composed in a crisis. When the helicopter smashed into Antarctica’s Amery Ice Shelf, the force was enough to eject Anthea Fisher out of the four-point harness strapping her to the seat. It was so violent it ripped her boots off. In a few seconds, the sleek machine had become…
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War and peace: The 1964 guide to the memorial halls of the South Island
Commemoration meets community. There might be a playgroup one day, indoor bowls the next, or a tangi, a Euchre night, a wedding, a roller derby, a cabaret, a community board meeting, a life drawing class, a gig. Almost every small town in Aotearoa has one: a town hall. They are often called the heart of…
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Tracing water
A walk along a creek. We begin at the delta, where the creek abruptly splits, first into arteries, then into veins, making its way through small stones and silt toward the lake. Standing on a rectangular tongue of wood that protrudes over the water, dozens of longfin eels slither below among the piles. The song…
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Koe: An Aotearoa ecopoetry anthology
Edited by Janet Newman and Robert Sullivan (Otago University Press, 2024) Coined in the 1990s, ecopoetry is work that delves into the relationship between the human and nonhuman worlds, often presented with an awareness of the damage and losses the former has imposed upon the latter. It is, Janet Newman notes in the introduction to…
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Music review: The Dreams of Our Mothers’ Mothers!
Mousey (2024) This is the third album from the brilliant Ōtautahi-based and Silver Scroll nominated songwriter Mousey (aka Sarena Close). This time she wants it darker. A less upbeat offering than her first two releases, Lemon Law (2019) and My Friends (2022), The Dreams of Our Mothers’ Mothers! delves into themes of family estrangement, something…